Pages

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I said in my last post that I was hoping to be a bit more frequent with my posts. Ah well, so much for plans. This week has been as hectic as usual.

Tonight I am going to get to something that has been on the backburner for a while. Way back in June Denise at L’Aussie Writing passed on the Versatile Blogger Award to me.

Thank you Denise!

With this award comes a few duties. Those are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Share seven things about yourself.

3. Pass this award along to fifteen bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!

4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

Now I have decided to “cheat a bit” and tell part of an episode of my life in seven paragraphs so here we go:

When our kids were small, we (that is Deb, the three girls and I) lived for a couple of years all crammed in a tiny mill cottage surrounded by rainforest. The cottage is on a farm on the Dorrigo Plateau in NSW. It is on the “back block” of a property owned by my mum and her husband. Deb and I had decided we both needed to do further studies, so we sold our house and car (we bought a cheap second hand car) and lived rent free for a while to be able to study full time.

The cottage had no mains power. We had a small solar panel with a truck battery that provided our lighting. We had a refrigerator that ran on gas. Heating, cooking and hot water were provided by a slow combustion stove. I used to cut firewood for the stove from regrowth timber on the farm.

Our house used spring water. Although we were on a ridge high on the western side of the Dorrigo Plateau (about 3600 feet) the spring that fed our house is still higher. The spring is on the other side of the valley and the water is fed by gravity down a long pipe all the way to the valley floor and then up to a holding tank behind the house.

We used to drive an old four wheel drive three miles down a muddy track every day to take the older girls to school. Luckily the local state primary school was literally at the bottom of “our driveway”. When we needed to go into town for supplies we drove four miles down a different track to “the front block” where we kept our road car at my mum’s house.

My favourite thing of all was to get up soon after dawn. The plateau to the east would still be covered with morning mist. It was like looking out over a still sea of white. Through the mist would come the noise of the dawn chorus of the birds. In particular there were lyrebirds which are incredible mimics. They mostly mimic other birds, but will mimic other sounds they hear. I have heard them mimicking things like chainsaws and camera motor-drives. I have never seen the dance they do as they sing (they are very shy) but their song is amazing anyway. You will get a tiny patch of forest with all these different bird calls coming out one after the other. Then at the end of the sequence the lyrebird sings his own song before beginning again.

The time living up there was amongst the happiest in my life. But alas the needs of growing girls and the need to go back to the workforce meant we had to leave our patch of paradise and go back to the ‘real world’.

Now our girls are all but grown up, and it doesn’t look like it will be too many years before they achieve independence, I am cultivating a fantasy. In that fantasy Deb and I move back to our mountain paradise. I dream we will build a writer’s retreat. There we will host other writers who need a break with peace and quiet only broken by birdsong and the wind. So with the income generated by the (very reasonable) fees we will charge I will be able to devote myself full time to writing.

Please forgive me if you have already been given this award. I just don’t have time to check tonight. I am sorry for displaying such a cavalier attitude, but you are just going to have to deal with the trauma as best you can :-)

Now finally a couple of piccies.By The way on the subject of piccies My last post features a giveaway check it out!

So the piccies, I am a bit pressed for time tonight so just three piccies of two birds I snapped on my recent holiday.

The first two are of a Crimson Rosella, another of our gaudy parrots. Not quite as friendly as the Rainbow Lorikeets I posted a while ago, but I think just as beautiful.Finally a small woodland bird, an Eastern Yellow Robin.These guys are not really shy, but they are quite active so this is the first time I have managed to photograph one.

Thanks for the lovely blog list. Unfortunately I am terrified of birds so could not enjoy these beautiful pics completely :(

I did hear of the Nap. height being a myth! But in my head it is more romantic that a short man set out on such an epic military campaign, while still sending all those touching letters to his Josephine :')

Thank you so much! And I hope you have that writer's retreat one day, it's a lovely idea. My youngest will be 17 soon and I've been thinking of what to do when she's all grown and gone (hopefully not far!)I love the idea of a little cottage somewhere and a big garden...

Hi Anne,I’ll book you in now :-) It is the perfect place for a writer, very beautiful but so quiet you can escape into your own world.

Hi Jen,Thank you!Isn’t it fun sharing a bit of others’ lives and interests.

Hi Rosie, Thank you!I think it sounds amazing as well– hopefully not too good to be true.Our ‘baby’ is 16 and already at university, so as I say ‘you never know’.

Hi Hanna, Crimsons are beautiful, we have over 50 species of parrot in Oz so hopefully I’ll share a few more at some point.Thank you!

Hi Carolyn,You are welcome!It is amazing, and cool to live surrounded by rainforest.

Hi Kyna,Hahaha. Funny!Cross cultural stories can be amazing, fortunately they don’t usually lead to too many international incidents!You are welcome to the award. I completely understand, I just didn’;t have time to get to this one.

Hi again Kyna,No it didn’t work. I will have a look thanks!

Hi Sarah,You’re welcome! Adorable is the word!

Hi Sharon,You are most welcome!Thank you! I liked what I have seen of your blog too.

Hi Jennifer ,Thank you.I did the post this way because I had a mental blank and couldn’t think of seven things to say about myself. So I just broke part of one enjoyable time into seven chunks.The bush, especially rainforest is amazing.I love lyrebirds too. The most amazing mimics, very beautiful although you usually just see them scampering across a trail, or away into the forest.I love birds so I am only too happy to share.I love the idea of the retreat too. The problem up there is income, you don’t need much money to get by up there, but you can’t get by on none. You never know a retreat might just give some possibilities.Pleased you liked my bird piccies, they are gorgeous.You are welcome!

Hi Valerie,You are welcome! Ugh, what a nuisance thing to be phobic about, birds are everywhere.Myths are fun anyway!

Hi Shannon,I am pleased you enjoy the piccies, happy to share.You’re welcome to the award , you deserve it.

Hi Elspeth,It does sound lovely doesn’t it? Whether it could ever work is a big question. The strength of the place is also its potential downfall, it’s not easy to get to. Wine country in BC that sounds nice! Our baby is out of school now, but we have two at Uni and we need to support them through that.You are very welcome, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t pass it on.

Hi Jemi,Cute indeed, happy you like them.Thank you!

Hi Angelique,You are very welcome!I hope so too, a lot of obstacles to be overcome. Our baby is 16 and already at University so in some ways it looks pretty close before Deb and I get to decide what to do for our ‘forever after’. A cottage and big garden sounds wonderful!

Hi Pamela,It was pretty inspiring, but like any family existence it had some peaceful moments and some that weren’t quite that way :-) I’m pleased you like my piccies!

Al, I'm so glad you got to post about yourself. It was very interesting. Reminds me of my early days on dairy farms in Queensland bush. Great bird shots too. Also hope you fulfil your fantasy/dream of a writers' retreat, a B & B with a difference eh? I'm sure many people would be lining up to enjoy the serenity..:)

Thanks for the award. :o) And I caught up with your tag post!! Ive just been scanning your posts for a four n twenty pie. hehehe yuck! pies just arent what they use to be. Sometimes I wonder just what is in pies nowadays.

Re pigs, I have thought about a crate for when the piglets are young. I think our pigs are just too huge!! I feed them too much. It was a big loss of piglet this time round. The worse we've had.

I havent heard of them being called 'silvereyes' hehe waxeyes sound so much better!! :op

We do think that you too might have a marvelous story to tell, one that is your own! So if you can compose it in not more than few words, we would want to hear from you. Also, you stand a chance to get your story published on our site and win cash prize of USD 100.

“Then what are you waiting for? …put on your thinking cap and get writing. For registration and other information check - http://bit.ly/short-story-contest-2010

Hi, hope it's OK to contact you here. We would love to include your blog on our giveaway search engine: Giveaway Scout (http://www.giveawayscout.com). Have a look and if interested, use our online form to add your blog (http://www.giveawayscout.com/addblog/ ). thanks, Josh

Hi Charmaine, It certainly is a relaxing dream.It was a great time to get to know each other.And you are most welcome!

Hi Denise,I got to it in the end, sorry it took so long.Sounds like you had some good early days!I’m sure we would have them queuing, if we could ever get it happening.

Hi Theresa,Thank you!It was an experience, and that sort of experience does shape your life…I like to think that I could go back someday, but for now at least there are too many commitments.Thanks again!

Hi Marsha,Thank you!It was like a dream in many ways (hard work too, but that has its own rewards).